MILLERSVILLE - Winning streak over.
Shot at a District 3 championship over.
Trip to the state playoffs hanging in the balance.
Daniel Boone took advantage of a throwing error and a crazy play at the plate in the sixth inning and snapped Hempfield's 23-game winning streak with a 3-1 win over the Black Knights in a District 3 Class AAAA softball semifinal Wednesday evening at Millersville University.
The Blazers (19-6) will take on Central Dauphin (17-6) for district gold on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. back at Millersville
More Softball links:
District 3 brackets: AAAA » | AAA » | AA » | A »
Complete 2013 softball brackets »
Complete softball news »
Hempfield, the L-L League champ and now 23-3 overall, will take on Cumberland Valley (22-3) - a 2-1 loser to Central Dauphin - in the third-place game on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at Messiah College in Grantham; winner goes to States and the loser is done.
"We figured this was going to be a battle - and it was," Hempfield coach Brian Lohr said.
Hempfield was sailing along through five innings Wednesday.
Freshman ace righty Lauren Lichtenwalner didn't give up a hit until Kelsey Winger lined a clean single up the middle with two outs in the fifth.
And the Knights grabbed a 1-0 lead when Nikki Rhoads hit a 1-one single in the fifth, went to second on a sac bunt by Kendall Beck, and scored when Kyra Brakefield bunted and reached when Boone's first baseman threw wildly.
But things unraveled for Hempfield in the top of the sixth.
Bekah Slattery and Heather Toth opened with back-to-back singles off Lichtenwalner. After Nicole Kovach popped to Beck at short for the first out, things got a little nutty.
Mikaela Ballmer hit a chopper to Annie Hartman at second, and when she tossed to Beck at the bag to get a force out, her throw went wild and Slattery came all the way around to score and it was 1-1.
Things went from bad to worse for Hempfield, when Savannah Toth followed with a fly to left, and Knights' left fielder Zooey Schneck threw home. Catcher Amber Morris misplayed the throw and Heather Toth scored, giving Daniel Boone a 2-1 lead.
But the play wasn't over yet.
When Morris chased the ball, she couldn't pick it up.
And when she went after it a second time, she jammed her foot under the fence and had to leave the game.
While Morris was digging around for the ball, Ballmer came all the way around and scored and the Blazers led 3-1.
"Amber looked to see if (Toth) was going to tag, and the ball just skipped by her and went to the fence," Lohr said. "It was a good throw, but the ball just skipped by her. We've won games like that, so you have to be able to roll with it when it happens to you."
Slattery, a fire-balling lefty, did the rest. She did allow a leadoff triple to the Knights' Madyson Popalis to open the bottom of the sixth. But she was stranded, and Slattery retired the last six Hempfield batters in a row - and Daniel Boone shuffled off to Thursday's finale.
The Knights, meanwhile, are hoping to start another winning streak - which would put them in the PIAA playoffs.